If this account is true, Komarov and others knew before the launch that the spacecraft was badly constructed and that the mission was a likely death sentence. However, nobody in the KGB had the balls to tell Brezhnev that the flight should be cancelled. Komarov himself could have refused to fly, but he didn't because he thought that would instead lead to the death of the backup pilot, his friend Yuri Gagarin.

This is old news, apart from the claim from the KGB officer about how nobody in the hierarchy would make a decision to abort the launch. Whether that's true or not, this is a tragic story. If those really are Komarov's remains in that photo, I don't think the photo should have been published. Disrespectful.